Investment and Growth in Rich and Poor Countries

This paper revisits the association between investment and growth. The empirical findings highlight substantial heterogeneity for the effect of investment on growth and suggest a possible negative association. Results based on a battery of cross-sectional and time-series regressions show that the link between investment and growth has weakened over time and that investment in high-income countries is more likely to have a negative effect on growth. The adverse effect for high-income countries appears to have increased over time. An implication is that uphill capital flows could be associated with negative or zero returns. The result is robust to the presence of control variables that are commonly included in growth studies.

Dissecting the PPP Puzzle: The Unconventional Roles of Nominal Exchange Rate and Price Adjustment

The conventional view, as expounded by sticky-price models, is that price adjustment determines the PPP reversion rate. This study examines the mechanism by which PPP deviations are corrected. Nominal exchange rate adjustment, not price adjustment, is shown to be the key engine governing the speed of PPP convergence. Moreover, nominal exchange rates are found to converge much more slowly than prices. With the reversion being driven primarily by nominal exchange rates, real exchange rates also revert at a slower rate than prices, as identified by the PPP puzzle (Rogoff, 1996).

Should the Nordic Countries Join A European Monetary Union? An Empirical Analysis.

This paper examines the implications for the Nordic Countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) of participating in the finan stage of the European Monetary Union. Economic linkages with Germany are estimated using a time series approach under both the Bretton Woods and the post-Bretton Woods exchange rate regimes. Output responses of the Nordic countries to permanent and transitory disturbances are estimated and compared with two small "core" members, Belgium and the Netherlands. We find that the long-standing EU members (Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands) are closely integrated with Germany in that German shocks have a direct and large impact on their output developments. These linkages appear much weaker for Finland, Norway and Sweden. Common European disturbances also do not distinguish the Nordic countries from the non-Nordic countries.

The Common-Trend and Transitory Dynamics in Real Exchange Rate Fluctuations

This study examines the behavior of both common-trend and transitory components of real exchange rate fluctuations under the current float. The common-trend component is in most cases found to be sizeable, albeit its relative importance can vary considerably across major currencies and its estimate can be sensitive to whether or not long-run PPP is imposed on the data. Further analysis suggests that both common-trend and transitory innovations are linked much more to interest rate changes than to productivity changes. Accordingly, it is interest rate, not productivity, disturbances that drive the highly persistent real exchange rate. JEL: F31, F41 Key Words: Real exchange rate; common trend; productivity effects; interest rate effects. * This is a substantially revised version of the discussion paper “Productivity shocks, monetary shocks, and the short-and long-run dynamics of exchange rates and relative prices. ” We have received valuable comments from Niels Arn

Bile salt deconjugation and cholesterol removal from media by Lactobacillus strains used as probiotics in chickens

BACKGROUND: Bile salt deconjugation by Lactobacillus strains is often closely linked to bile tolerance and survival of the strains in the gut and lowering of cholesterol in the host. The present study investigated the deconjugation of bile salts and removal of cholesterol by 12 Lactobacillus strains in vitro. The 12 strains were previously isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of chickens. RESULTS: The 12 Lactobacillus strains could deconjugate sodium glycocholate (GCA, 16.87-100%) and sodium taurocholate (TCA, 1.69-57.43%) bile salts to varying degrees, with all strains except L. salivarius I 24 having a higher affinity for GCA. The 12 Lactobacillus strains also showed significant (P < 0.05) differences in their ability to remove cholesterol from the growth medium (26.74-85.41%). Significant (P < 0.05) correlations were observed between cholesterol removal and deconjugation of TCA (r = 0.83) among the L. reuteri strains (C1, C10 and C16) and between cholesterol removal and deconjugation of TCA (r = 0.38) and GCA (r = 0.70) among the L. brevis strains (I 12, I 23, I 25, I 211 and I 218). In contrast, although L. gallinarum I 16 and I 26 and L. panis C 17 showed high deconjugating activity, there was no correlation between cholesterol removal and deconjugation of bile salts in these strains. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the 12 Lactobacillus strains were able to deconjugate bile salts and remove cholesterol in vitro, but not all strains with high deconjugating activity removed cholesterol effectively

Suppression of ion-implantation induced porosity in germanium by a silicon dioxide capping layer

Ion implantation with high ion fluences is indispensable for successful use of germanium (Ge) in the next generation of electronic and photonic devices. However, Ge readily becomes porous after a moderate fluence implant (∼1×1015 ion cm−2) at room temperature, and for heavy ion species such as tin (Sn), holding the target at liquid nitrogen (LN2) temperature suppresses porosity formation only up to a fluence of 2×1016 ion cm−2. We show, using stylus profilometry and electron microscopy, that a nanometer scale capping layer of silicon dioxide significantly suppresses the development of the porous structure in Ge during a Sn − implant at a fluence of 4.5×1016 ion cm−2 at LN2 temperature. The significant loss of the implanted species through sputtering is also suppressed. The effectiveness of the capping layer in preventing porosity, as well as suppressing sputter removal of Ge, permits the attainment of an implanted Sn concentration in Ge of ∼15 at.%, which is about 2.5 times the maximum value previously attained. The crystallinity of the Ge-Sn layer following pulsed-laser-melting induced solidification is also greatly improved compared with that of uncapped material, thus opening up potential applications of the Ge-Sn alloy as a direct bandgap material fabricated by an ion beam synthesis technique

Fermentation activities of some new species of anaerobic rumen fungi from Malaysia

The fermentation activities of three new anaerobic rumen fungi, viz, Neocallimastix variabilis, Piromyces spiralis and P. minutus, and a Caecomyces communis isolate grown on straw and filter paper media were studied. N. variabilis, P. spiralis and P. minutus produced carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase), FPase (filter paper activity) and xylanases when grown on straw and filter paper media. C. communis produced only xylanases, The maximum production of all the enzymes was at 72 h of fungal incubation. On both media, N. variabilis showed the highest enzyme activities, followed by P. spiralis and P. minutus. Specific enzyme activities of the three fungal isolates in descending order of production were: Xylanase > CMCase > FPase when grown on straw medium; and CMCase > Xylanase > FPase > cellobiase when grown on filter paper medium. The major end-products of fermentation by the three new fungal isolates were acetate and formate. Ethanol and succinate were produced in low amounts and lactate was not detected. The absence of lactate in the end-products of fermentation observed in this study is the first such report

Review on efficiency and anomalies in stock markets

The efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) is one of the most important economic and financial hypotheses that have been tested over the past century. Due to many abnormal phenomena and conflicting evidence, otherwise known as anomalies against EMH, some academics have questioned whether EMH is valid, and pointed out that the financial literature has substantial evidence of anomalies, so that many theories have been developed to explain some anomalies. To address the issue, this paper reviews the theory and literature on market efficiency and market anomalies. We give a brief review on market efficiency and clearly define the concept of market efficiency and the EMH. We discuss some efforts that challenge the EMH. We review different market anomalies and different theories of Behavioral Finance that could be used to explain such market anomalies. This review is useful to academics for developing cutting-edge treatments of financial theory that EMH, anomalies, and Behavioral Finance underlie. The review is also beneficial to investors for making choices of investment products and strategies that suit their risk preferences and behavioral traits predicted

An overview of fermentation in rice winemaking

Rice wine is an alcoholic beverage produced via the fermentation of cereals, primarily rice with starter cultures. It is produced and consumed globally, especially in Asian countries. With the growth of the global rice wine market, the development of high-quality rice wines is gaining increasing interest. This paper reviews and discusses the comprehensive research details of rice wines in different regions, including the selection of starch substrates, comparison of starter cultures’ microbial compositions, compositions of rice wines and its health benefits. The simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of rice wine, microorganisms involved in the fermentation, and factors affecting the fermentation process are discussed, thus providing an overview of the rice wine fermentation and the involved study perspectives